I'm after a little bit of help...I've been to see my GP this morning and bless him, he cried when I walked in his room. He has offered to research what blood tests to take even though I've only had two losses (it's only normally looked in to after three in the UK)
It might not even be the answer for my losses but I need to explore that avenue...just on case.
So, does anyone know what I should be suggesting to have checked out?
It's so nice when you see a dr who really and truly cares... it seems such a rarity nowadays - they are just so pressed for time that it's hard to develop that relationship anymore, and just knowing that he/she cares can make such a difference to us....
Anyway, my recurrent mc tests consisted of about 12 vials of blood from me, 1 from DH, and my HSG. The HSG is the one where they inject dye into your uterus and look at it under x-ray, checking whether your tubes are fully open and looking at the structure of your uterus (is there a septum, polyps, etc). The blood tests included:
- a karyotype on both me and DH - that's where they check our chromosomes to make sure we have a full, normal set of 46 XX and 46 XY and make sure we don't have a translocation (like Padbrat has) or such.
- a full hormone panel on me - checking thyroid function, FSH, LH, prolactin, progesterone, estrogen, etc
- a full thrombosis/coagulation panel on me, checking for blood clotting disorders like Factor V Leiden, anti-phospholipid antibodies, MTHFR, etc
- a lupus test on me (apparently many women have no idea they have lupus until they have fertility problems)
- a celiac test on me - not standard in the US, but my mom has celiac disease and it is linked to infertility and miscarriage
I think that's the basics, but I'm working from memory and might have missed one or two. I can go pull my records and give you more details if you want.
The other blood tests that everyone ttc should have done (not specific to miscarriage) are your rubella (German measles) immunity and to see if you carry the cystic fibrosis gene. If you're no longer immune to German measles you'll need a booster shot before you continue ttc, because if you contract it during pregnancy it can cause severe birth defects and/or pregnancy loss. The cystic fibrosis test is because 1 in 30 people carry the CF gene and have no symptoms and don't know anyone in their family with the disease - they only find out they're carriers when their child is born with the full-blown disease. If it turns out you do carry the gene, then they'll need to test your DH as well. If he's not a carrier, everything's fine (a child can only get CF if it inherits the gene from both parents). If it turns out you're both carriers, they'll want to run prenatal tests on your future babies to check for it, or even do IVF with pre-implantation diagnosis to make sure they only transfer embryos that don't carry the gene.
Dwrgi, I've read the same re Ovidrel. Definitely something to ask about at your consult. Google at times like this is such a mixed blessing - it can make me totally paranoid if I let it, but it also makes me feel like at least I'm doing
something. The trial-and-error nature of IVF, especially the first cycle, is why the success rate goes up the more cycles you try. Do you think you'll try again? Or are you waiting to see what the FS says about this cycle? Or is it just too soon to think about it?
FM, are you staying put or have they called for an evacuation of your area? I'm praying for your safety and that everything comes out alright when this weekend is over. It seems like it's been a really long time since NC took a hit (or am I just forgetting?).
AFM, so far so good today. Granted it's only 11a!
I'm skipping yoga today - I'm still bleeding heavily and the thought of worrying about my pad shifting (because you're not supposed to wear tampons in a mc) during downward-facing dog is not something I want to deal with today, let alone having to deal with other people, so I'm staying put. My butt hurts from the rhogam shot but that will pass soon enough. Yesterday's meltdown really helped my mood and I finally slept well last night, but I know enough about this process to know my mood will change a lot over the next few days. So I'm just taking it one day at a time. I need to prepare for our consult with the dr next week, but I can't get my thoughts straight yet. I'm not even sure what I want/need to talk about with him. We initially set this appt up as an IVF consult, but now that IUI has worked for us we aren't sure if he'll recommend we stick with IUI a few more cycles or not, so I'm not even sure what questions to come prepared with. I feel like I need to be prepared for anything to come up at that consult and I can't get my brain going enough to think of such a wide range of possibilities and questions just yet. I guess I have until Thursday to get ready for it, but with my bday next Wed I know my mental distraction is not going to improve much between now and the appt so I'm trying to work on it a little at a time....
Meh. I'll get better. One day at a time. I can't thank you all enough for your love and support - for being excited with me when it was exciting, for holding out hope for this LO when I couldn't, for being a "safe" place to let it out when I need to be sad... you are truly a remarkable group of women, and I'm so thankful to know you all and call you my friends.
I love you, ladies. xoxo